956 pilgrims pay obeisance at Amarnath cave

Srinagar, Aug 10: On the 44th day of the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, 956 pilgrims paid obeisance at the 3,880-metre high cave shrine, officials said.

They said till date, 2,77,215 pilgrims have had ‘darshan’ at the cave shrine.

Meanwhile, earlier today another small batch of 269 pilgrims left the base camp in Jammu for their onward journey to south Kashmir Himalayas..

The Yatra, which commenced from the twin routes of Baltal in Ganderbal and Pahalgam in Anantnag district on June 28 has seen a sharp dip in the number of pilgrims over the past week. The trend has been attributed to the early melting of the naturally formed ice-Shivlingam at the sanctum sanatorium.

A police official said a fresh batch of 269 pilgrims left Jammu today in the wee hours from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in a fleet of 15 vehicles under tight security.

The Yatra is scheduled to conclude on August 26 coinciding with ‘Raksha Bandhan’ festival.